The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1887-02-04

TTUEU
than Il Is. Ignorance is the mother of vice. If
Ignorance be the mother of vice and the public
3 hooi Is the efficient foe of ignorance the Inst
q " Years should have seen an impr )ysment so
great IN ali our social relations. that admiring
initiate - -
Crime has been on the increase, however, and
70 an extent 70 aiarr all right-thinking men.
Crime, too, has assuned that peculiar Character
lstlc OF shameiSssnesS, dishonor and utter CON
Tempt OF al principles of dsceacy ard Justice.
mat. IKE the hoTelessly Ignorant, who do not
know even that they are ignorant the criminal
classes have me hardened against any
pTomI tiEgso of conscience that might move them
10 aomit their guilt.
/" The educational quacks' treat the child as
InOngn ne were mere mind, and his sole business
70 use II, ana chiefly for low ends, shrewdly and
Sharply with view to profit as though life
were thing of barter, and wisdom the art of
making the most of it,
The state, cannot of course teach religion
Inc duty of imparting religious instruction
does not belong to the state The state how
ever, cannot afford to ignore the necessity and
lmp ortance OF religious instruction, whiehis the
on y true basis of public and private morality
ana virtue. Iuasmuch as the state has assumed
70 perform some OF the duties of the parent who
is unaDis 10 give due attention to the needs OF
MS enid the state should at least offer every en-
couragement 10 the child to receive religious ia
slr ictlon and not impose an unjust and UNEQUAL
burden on The tax-paying Iareut of giving
compulsory SUPP ort to a school from which his
because there his religious training is neglected
Inc state should give every possible sanction
70 Tei1gious education and culture, for no nation
or people will escape the curse of national decay
| from with II who forget or ignore their du1y
towards God. And no people can ever be Iowa.
| III their duties towards God who do not plsnt
deepiy and well in the hearts of their children
religious convictions that will save them from
the blindness of superstition the sophistry M
sceptinism, the madn SIS of fauaticism the in "
OF passion and the mex disable folly. of the fool
VINO says in his heart there is no God.
The STATE does not act wisely or Justly, when
III difference to the prejudites of the agnostiC
minority, & who do nOteven know, and only hal
believe that they do not be ieve," it ignores the
ghts and sacred convictions of the be lievine
majority and banishes religion from our schools
To the general disregard oil religious instruction
| and ira, ming in childhood and youth must 9
attributed the radical and most fruitful cause
| of crime in our la d.
Other crime@producing causes daily apnear on
the surface, but they are like disease.bearing
water courses al ing the highways of life, whose
unWholesome effects are plain to a /, but whose
it is seen by but few.
Re 1gion alone is equal to the task of teach
ing the consciences of men, of correcting the
perverted sentiments of the public in regard 10
all our social duties False and dangerous
theories on questions of public morals and So
clal rights find their origin III the evil propen-
slt1es of the hun an heart. No power can con-
quer the tide OF hun an avarice, base passion and
caunot better Conclude this part of nv argu.
ment than by quoting the impressive Language
of Judge Jameson in the North american ReUieu
| for the month of April, 1884, where he saws .
That for the saving of civilization from the
destruction threatening it, as well from the
prevalence of crime and social immortality as
| from the thickening dangers of industrial dis.
content and conflict, religion is the most effec-
tive in tru entality not the religion that builds
temples from which 1t excludes the poor; moi
the religion which shoots philosophical treat1ses
from its pulpits over the heads of those who
most need its consultations in the condition OF
soc al contem Dt and prosecution in whiC b they
are held; but the religion which reaches its
hand o the plain. men aud women who form
the bulk of our race and do its work which
wins instead of repelling them, and which shows
itself the friend and minister of the toiling mil.
| lions rather than of the millionaires who build
s palaces"
Iutemperance is commonly supposed to be the
most prolific, at least among the secondary
causes of crime. Now, while recognize the
fact as well, think, as any man, that intemper-
ance especial y amOngthe poor and the Ia boring
Glass; is he milestone about their necks, cannot
believe that intemperance, great an evil as it is
is as fruitful cause of crime as is the system
adopted by our laws of dealing with the intern
perate. No class make a better showing for the
zeal and industry of the policeman than the un-
fortunate drunkard class. The crowd of pitiable
wretches arraigned i'll the police courts day
after day for drunkenness aud disOrderly con.
| duct is gathered from among the poor and the
weaker classes of society-a class that needs the
protection and guardianship of he law. and on
whom it is inhuman and unjustihable cruelty
to visit the severity of the law. cannot be ieve
| that any drunkard was ever reformed by being
| fined or sentenced to house of correction for
| his otfense. But 1t is well known fact that
every year, thousands of new recruits are enlist
| ed into the gre at army of criminals from the
drunkard class who were first broken into ca
reer of crime by tae Ubiquitous sentence of po
lice court. The unfortunate victim of drink is
commonly weak, not vicious his lamentahle
weakness of will leads him to easily yield to sur.
rounding influences. The very worst tnat can
be done to him, therefore, is tn send him TO the
| Bridewell, expose him to the seduct We influence
OF shameless offenders, class him with criminals
rob him of his self respect and shame and entrap
hin into an acquaintanceship of those who will
rejoice to speculate on his We akness and, later
use him for base and criminal ends.
| am we'll aware that the vast ma jority OF
habitual drnnkards who form such a sad pro-
portion of the criminal class and swell the ia
bleS of Criminal statistics, also habitual Yio-
lators of law and should be punished b It they
should be punished in such manner as to re
form and reclaim them; their punishment
should not, as it does now in most instances,
tend to demoraize and deoase them and render
their reform well nigh hopeless Great crimes
are not committed by drunkards The drunkard
cannot be trusted to engage in criminal schemes
that demand skill, self-reliance and shrewd
cunning. Intempe rance is the great social
cause of the poor and the wage-working classes;
its widespread prevalence appeals to our pity
and practical soil itude but it is not crime
producing cause to arouse national alarm, as is
the liquor saloon. The saloon, as usually per-
mitted to exist in all Cities is the nursery of
crime The saloon, not drunkenness, is nation
al men ce to the laws and liberti of our coun-
try The sd DON shelters the criminal and sup.
plies HIM with victims in the drunkards it
makes The saloon cOrruI is by its inf uence the
integrity of the officers of the law. The saloon
sets itself up in every city and town as the one
institution that can always be relied on to defy
the law, to defeat its purposes, and yet appeal
to the law for protection and safety against the
law breakers it has made The saloon fosters
and encourages every b lighting influence that
tends 10 lead the weak and unfortunate into
life of crime and wrong-doing. The saloon
ne ser wearies of inventing methods of evading
every legal enactment, and he's caused and is
caus .ng more geaeral disregard of all social
order and law than any other blighting infu-
ence that can arouse national alarm. 1t is our
great national pest, and is aoe to effect so much
harm because of the criminal lethargy and in
difference OF so many of our citiz ms
lspeak of intempeIance as the great curse,
particularly of the poor, for it leads them into
a fellowship with crime that tue more wealthy
are able to escape, for the drunken ess of the
rich is concealed while the poor mans debauch
is pub 'ished aloud. The rich man becomes
drunk aud disorderly and is sent home in q
carriage ; for similar offense the poor man ie
borne to the police station and sentenced next
day to term in the BriGewell or to pay a fine
either of which becomes an unreasonable bur-
den, for his family or dependents need his
money ana time FOl1ce OnCPTS are Oftf II over
Jealous in making arrests, ap arently from a
conviction that the great number of arrests in
dicates the efficiency of the officer g In one
year in the city OF Chicago" says Judge Att
geld, " of the SO 800 persons arrested by the DO
lice, over 10000 were discharged because they
We're not shown to have been guilty of any Of
tense whatever" The same authority states
that g of the 1866 committed to the Chicago
House of Correction in 1882, only 100 were
charged with crimes, and OF these 100 lib were
charged with petty off nses, 30 that the great
majority of those committed were not criminals
and society would have be better off if it had
not arrested and incarceTated them"
Every police officer and justice should receive
a fixed salary, and all fees should be abolished
We all know how industIiously our officers
worked in Wisconsin under the old tramp law,
when constables, policemen and justices of the
peace, all anxious to enter up large fees as a
reward of their zeal for enforcing the law, sys
tematically robbed the people, according to law,
and, under form of law, arrested and punish
ed many innocent and inoffensive men. After
the fee system was sbalisned by state law in the
city of Baltimore, the number of arresfs in one
year fell off from upwards of twelve thousand
to about seven thousand-almost half.
Every officer should be required to protect
society from the criminal classes, to guard
thu public peace and pursue the vicious with
determined energy, bnt no officer should be re-
warded for swelling the list of criminals and
aiding in increasing the already large number
of Sc a million and half who are annually
broken into what may be called criminal
experience"